Mammoth firefighters extinguish a small brush fire at Sierra Nevada Road on Sunday. The fire threatened the RV park on S.R. 203, but no injuries or property damage was reported. Photo/George Shirk

Planning Commissioner Elizabeth Tenney got about as big a compliment as any commissioner can get on Wednesday. Councilman John Eastman, always with a bon mot for everyone, made a formal motion to reappoint Elizabeth Taylor. There was a pregnant pause from the other members of the council and snickers and twitters from the half-dozen audience members. “I’ll second that,” said councilman Rick Wood, “with the addendum.”…

Sometimes all it takes is a New York Times columnist, like Nicholas Kristof, to remind us that wilderness matters. He and his daughter did 200 miles of the PCT in Oregon, lost the trail in snow, battled swarms of skeeters and had a GREAT time. …

There were a few nuggets in that Kristof column, to wit, The United States Fish and Wildlife Service reports that the number of Americans who fish dropped by 15 percent between 1996 and 2006. In that same period, the number of hunters dropped by just over 10 percent. And even though visits to the National Parks have soared, the number of backcountry campers in our national parks has fallen by nearly 30 percent since 1979. …

Caltrans does not get a lot of love, but we’re here to say the crews have done an amazing job with re-paving S.R. 120 on the route of the High Sierra Fall Century route. The legendary frost cracks between Sage Hen Summit, Adobe Valley, and Benton Crossing Road are all gone and cyclists have “a divine, smooth and pleasurable surface out there that transforms the ride,” says the Eastside Velos’ Jeff Byberg. The High Sierra Fall Century is Sept. 8, promising smooth sailing. …

There were a coupla bona fide rock stars at Thousand Island Lake this week. Wes Hildreth of the USGS in Menlo Park was there, alongside local geologist Bob Drake, mapping and taking samples of basalt flows—all the better to help us understand just what the heck Devils Postpile is all about. …

The Forest Service hasn’t said it publically yet, but judging by comments at the Collaborative Planning Team last week, it’s almost a sure thing that the campgrounds at Agnew Meadows won’t re-open this year because of the tree blowdown. …

Cars and Californians, huh? That’s John Vereuck, joining other Mini-Cooper-ites on a cross-country drive and back. …

That 81mm illumination mortar round found at a vacant condo unit last weekend turned out to be a dud, says Police Chief Dan Watson. Dudder than a doornail, we say. Talk about a collectible though! …

Floating around the Internet is a sweet little quick, raw teaser by the Drop In Project on Jeremy McGhee’s ascent/descent of Bloody Couloir. The feature length director’s cut/documentary will be released in the fall in Mammoth. The video is at Drop-in Project on Facebook and http://youtu.be/k9VYFZ6sJb4. Also, a 4,000-word piece on the adventure is in the new Mammoth Sierra Magazine. …

Richard Mallard, author of the recently published “Convict Lake: A True Account of the Convict Lake Rescue,” will be doing a book signing on Sunday, Aug. 5, at The Booky Joint from 1-3 p.m. …

Mammoth’s first ever margarita festival will comenzar next fin de semana with over 15 different destilerías and 30 different vintages. The festival is the brainchild of Mark Deeds and Gomez’s Restaurant owners Michael Ledesma and Russ Squier. Tickets for Saturday’s (Aug. 11) tasting are $20 for just tequila and $30 for tequila and margaritas. Be sure to utilize the Town’s designated driver program that night! An extra trolley will be running (the Red Line) from 8 p.m. to midnight. ...

The legal beagles helping Mammoth steer its newest bankruptcy/mediation strategies arrived in Mammoth last week, for the very first time. They’d heard it was kind of pleasant around here, but they didn’t quite get the jaw-dropping part. The team stayed at the Mammoth Creek Inn and couldn’t stop looking at the mountains vowing, in the end, to schedule some extra days the next time they’re around these parts. …

It really is less than a hundred days until ski season Opening Day? Just a month to go before college football, too? Feh. …

That big St. Bernard loping around town is named “Finn.” But he answers to “Fathead,” lovingly called as such by Human Companion Katie Mac. …

Just for the heck of it: badminton. …

Everyone here wants to thank everyone out there for coming on over for our first-ever magazine launch party last Wednesday, and though it astonishes us sometimes, there are scads of Readerfolk who don’t know that Mammoth Sierra Magazine is from us here at the Mammoth Times. And vice-versa. The next launch party will take place in October, and you’re all invited!